EclecticDreamsVol2-20180915

Eclectic Dreams Vol. 2

When it came my turn, the ink pad was almost dry and when the
proprietor pressed my thumb down it did not pick up much ink and
when he pressed my thumb to the application there was no imprint.
He swore under his breath and had me repeat the process. Again, no
imprint. Swearing again, he looked at me in disgust as if it was all my
fault and sent me to yet another room where I assumed they would
deal with this anomaly. I did not have the temerity to ask him for an
application for my sister.

Elementary School – 2018-08-23

I was visiting an elementary school which was not far from my home.
As I entered each classroom the teacher showed me the newest
technological improvement she had been able to incorporate into her
teaching.

The first classroom I visited was a model of organization. It was a
large room painted in pleasing colors and with high ceilings. The
children were very quietly going about their studies. The teacher
showed me her technological innovation. It was a plastic table that
came apart quite easily once a certain piece was removed. She showed
me how there was a large gear embedded in the leg of the table that
when turned once complete turn clockwise would rearrange the
surface of the table. I marveled at the innovation.

After leaving that classroom I went on down the corridor and entered
a second classroom. This one was painted in very bright colors rather
than the pastels I found in the previous room. It also boasted some
very tall floor to ceiling windows. The teacher turned the class over to
her teaching assistant long enough to demonstrate her innovation. It
consisted of a box, about eight inches by 5 inches, that contained
some brightly colored plastic beads all arranged in neat rows. She
shook the box and it arranged itself into a completely new pattern. I
am afraid I did not see the point of the box however I expressed my
amazement before moving to yet another classroom.

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I did not make it to the next classroom because I realized I had not
told my administrative assistant where I would be that morning and
knew I should call her immediately. However, I could not recall my
telephone number. I tried several combinations of numbers that came
to mind but none of them worked.

Frustrated, I left the elementary school and headed for my office only
to lose my way. I found myself in a very run-down part of town with
trash overflowing the dumpsters and people asleep leaning against the
walls of the buildings. The stench was more than I could stand so I
rushed out of that part of town but was still lost. I was most happy to
wake up!

Semester End – 2018-08-24

I was teaching a college class on the last day of the semester. I had
been absent from the class so many times because in previous dreams
I simply forgot about my class or I simply could not find it’s location
within the college that we had not made much progress in the
textbook. The textbook was used for two semesters of the subject
and the second semester was predicated on completing about half of
the textbook but we had only completed maybe a fourth of the
material. Understanding the second semester was based on the
knowledge gained during the first semester. Yet, since the students
had not covered all of the first half of the book they would not have
the requisite knowledge base for the more advanced material.

As the students waited for me to speak, I wrestled with my
predicament. What could I do during this one last meeting to mitigate
all the material I had not covered? I decided that I would simply go
over the fundamental concepts and show how it manifested itself in
various situations. Furthermore, I suggested that over the semester
break they review the chapters we missed and see for themselves how
the various situations were handled following the basic concepts.

As I dismissed the class and bade them good luck, I suggested that
they should sign up for my advanced class where I would review the

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missing chapters. I felt like such a fraud for having failed them in
their quest to learn.

Test Failure – 2018-08-26

I was visiting my father and younger sister on the family farm and
they decided they wanted to go visit me in the city in which I attended
college. We all piled into my dad’s older model Pontiac. The bench
seat was positioned so far back that I could not reach the brakes.
After some difficulty in repositioning the seat, we launched our trip.

When we arrived at the college, I drove right up to the delivery
entrance on the west side of the classroom building for I was already
late for my mathematics class. My father was confused and told me
that he did not know his way around. I reminded him that we had
always driven up to the college using the main drive on the front of
the building and we were just on the back side of the building. That
seemed to square things in his mind. I told him that I would find
them a room at the fraternity as soon as my class was over and
hurried over to my math class.

As soon as I entered the math classroom I could see that there had
been a complete remodeling of our classroom. Instead of the
traditional rectangular room with rows of school desks, the room was
now an amphitheater with semi-circular rows of tables on tiers that
rose from the professor’s lectern on to the back of the room.

Students were already at their assigned locations with large placards
displaying their names. I walked the aisles until I found my name and
found that my station did not have the computer equipment the
others already had and at which they were working. A student told me
to just go to the side of the room to a counter where I would be
assigned all my equipment. I did as he said and soon had all my
computer equipment installed at my assigned station.

In a previous dream, I had taken a test during which I realized I had
no idea what the answers were. The test was clipped to my name

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placard and I could see that I had received a score of zero and in large
red letters there was a note to see the professor right away!

I found my way to the rear of the room where the professor’s office
was located and entered. I faced the professor and asked, “You
wanted to see me?” He looked me up and down as if I was some
insect and then exploded in a vituperous rant. When he paused to
catch his breath, I mentioned that I was 78 years old and had taken
the course because I found the material very interesting even though I
could not always perform the calculations. He was not mollified and
demanded that I return the textbook to him. I meekly responded that
I had misplaced it and did not have it with me but I would be happy
to pay him whatever it had cost. He really exploded then! The
textbook belonged to him personally, he said, and he had only loaned
it to me. It was priceless and cost more than $1,000. He told me to
gather my stuff and get out of his classroom! I left feeling totally
deflated and worthless.

Tornado Run – 2018-08-29

I was with three others who were traveling to a distant city on foot
for a meeting. I do not know why we decided to walk but that was
what we were doing. About an hour into our trip I looked at my
watch and determined that at this rate we would never make the
meeting on time. I mentioned this to the others and we decided that
we had better start running. The other three ran on the highway and
when they saw or heard a car approaching they would run on the
shoulder. I, on the other hand, decided to run on the other side of the
fence lining the highway. It provided me with an additional cushion
between my body and the cars barreling by but I had to be watchful
that I did not run into any cross-fences and I kept an eagle-eye out
for bulls among the cattle.

We had been running for about an hour when one of my companions
yelled, “Tornado coming!” I looked behind us and, sure enough, there
was a tornado rapidly approaching us from the rear. I saw a culvert

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just ahead and we sprinted for it. We had just enough time to duck
down into the culvert when we saw and felt the tornado ravaging the
highway just above us. It was but a weak tornado, probably just an F-
Zero, but it sure unnerved us.

After the tornado had passed by we resumed our journey. It couldn’t
have been more than half an hour when again the call went out,
“Tornado!” I could see a culvert just ahead and we immediately
ducked down into the relative safety of its interior. The tornado that
went over us was much stronger and full of debris, maybe an F1, but
we were safe under the highway.

It defies credulity but during our trip, we had to find cover from
tornados twice more, a total of four times! Each tornado was more
potent than the previous one. After that fourth tornado, which had to
be at least an F4, we decided that we had better just return home and
forget the meeting. We turned around and ran home.

Pinups – 2018-08-30

I was still in high school and lived on a farm in the rural Midwest.
Somehow, I had come upon some pinup photos of women and had
managed to copy them in full color. There must have been a hundred
such photos and I had made at least ten copies of each which I then
sorted into different stacks. Finally, I put all these stacks into one
volume and bound them into a single book. I planned to take the
book to school with me the next day and share my bounty with other
boys. All this sorting and compiling was done at the dining table of
our very small farmhouse and I was in the process of inserting the
book into my backpack when my dad sauntered by and casually said,
“I trust that will stay here, right?”

At first, I was taken aback by my dad’s comment but the more I
thought about it the more I realized that he had wisely cautioned me
that such a book just might get me, and others, into a lot of trouble at
school the next day. I was happy that he had brought it to my

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attention and caused me to reflect on my actions and their possible
ramifications. Needless to say, the book remained on the farm!

Reconfiguration – 2018-09-03

I had returned to my job after a few days off and found that the entire
office area had been reconfigured. I found my desk only because it
was the only one that was not being used. I was now much closer to
others in the office and to the office of the manager. Behind me was a
printer that a co-worker had to monitor but she had been moved a
few desks away. She kept jumping up and coming back behind my
desk to operate the printer.

I had forgotten what my tasks were so I began to look about my desk
trying to figure out what it was what I was supposed to do. On my
desk was a heavy sweater jacket that I assumed I had ordered at the
office meeting we had before I left for a few days of vacation. The
sweater was done in the company colors and was very nice. I also
found a suit coat that I had left there to be altered.

I looked through my entire desk in an attempt to ascertain what I was
supposed to work on. Before I went on vacation my job had been to
check over all the sales invoices to ensure that they had the proper
prices and that all had been calculated properly but I found no sales
invoices on my desk. Nevertheless, I pretended to be quite busy,
shuffling papers to and from and helping my coworker with the
printer behind me.

Special Holiday – 2018-09-04

I was at my annual Army Reserves Summer Camp and was dressed
up in my khaki uniform as I drove to breakfast. While on the way, I
tuned into the radio and heard that the day had been declared a
special holiday and that all training activities would not take place that
day. Immediately, the question came to mind, “Do I have to wear my
uniform at breakfast?” I hated to spill something on the uniform and

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make it unpresentable for the next day. I decided to go back to my
barracks and change to civilian clothes.

I had reached an intersection and was in the process of crossing it
when the engine in my car died. To get out of the middle of the
intersection I steered left and found myself going the wrong way on
the opposing lane of traffic. People got out of my way but I was
highly embarrassed before I got the car to restart and onto the correct
lanes.

Once back at the barracks I changed clothes and again headed for the
mess hall. Once there, I proceeded through the food line and got my
breakfast. As I ate I planned my day off. It would give me the time to
ensure that all my uniforms were prepared for the week with all the
proper insignia. I could also take the time to spit-shine my boots and
shoes.

Call of Nature – 2018-09-04

My mother was leading a tour bus of a mixed group of people on a
tour. After several hours on the bus, I was needing a rest stop. Others
may have been wanting that also so when we came upon a patch of
woods my mother had the bus stop alongside the woods. She had
everyone get off the bus and then told us all to use the woods to
answer the call of nature. I could have hugged her! When we had all
done our business someone noticed that on the other side of the
woods was a state-run rest stop! We could have all gone there had we
just stayed on the road another minute.

Pregnant – 2018-09-04

Our daughter was still in her late teens when we discovered she had
been dating a man in his 40’s. When we finally met him we were not
impressed and wished she would find someone else. That is when she
told us that she was pregnant!

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Cardboard Building – 2018-09-06

My daughter and I were still young and we were punching out a
cardboard building that came in our breakfast cereal box. In every
box, you received a different building. You separated it from the
cardboard sheet it was on and, following their instructions, you
carefully folded it and slotted this into that until the building stood
before you in all its three-dimensional splendor. We did this as a
father-daughter project and when it was done we set it aside or took it
apart again and forgot about it until the next box of cereal.

After several months of carefully constructing all of the buildings, one
box of cereal had no cardboard in it. Instead, it showed a large
structure that incorporated all of the buildings that had been built
before. My daughter and I looked through all our closets and drawers
trying to find all the pieces of the buildings we had previously built
and began to reconstruct them in order to piece them together to
build the monster structure they depicted. Trouble was, we had long
ago discarded the instructions on how to put the buildings together
and had to rely on our very frail memories.

Eventually, after much trial and error, we succeeded in reconstituting
the buildings we had previously dismantled and affixed them together
following their current instructions. We were so proud of ourselves!

Mountain of Snakes – 2018-09-06

My mother had just purchased a new farm perched on the side of a
hill and I could not wait to investigate the house and its surroundings.
I traipsed all over the hillside and found that it was inhabited by all
types of life, both plant and animal. There was also a spring that
poured forth a torrent of crystal clear water which cascaded down the
hillside and flowed into the valley and ocean below the hill. I was
surprised that in addition to cattle and goats on the hill there were
lions and tigers. They did not scare me for they seemed quite content
to leave me alone.

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When visitors from out-of-town arrived I was primed to show them
the wonders of the farm place. I planned to lead them in a circuitous
route that would not only allow them to gaze upon the magnificent
vistas of the valley and the sea below but also the spring and the small
waterfalls it created as it spilled its way down to the sea. However, we
had no longer started out on our inspection tour when we began to
see snakes in our pathway. I pointed them out as something to avoid
but soon there were snakes everywhere we turned. Not just small
snakes but large ten-footers several inches in circumference. They
were hanging from trees, from bushes, and from the rocks. In one
tree we discovered a whole nest of them all wrapped up into a
wriggling ball.

The lions and the tigers must have heard us coming for they ventured
out of their caves and dens and began to roar. I could not count on
them not attacking our guests so we doubled back and scurried back
to the house.

Car Search – 2018-09-10

I drove my car to the college at which I taught during a snowstorm
and was fortunate enough to find a parking spot right along the street
not far from the campus. I locked up my car and went on to my
classroom on foot. When I reached the classroom I found only one
student had made it to class. No one else showed because of the
snowstorm. After debating with the one student what we should do I
put a financial statement on the blackboard and wrote an assignment
below it for the rest of the class. My note asked the class to construct
a Balance Sheet that matched the financial statement.

I then left the college to go back home. I walked several blocks in the
driving snow but could not find my car. In my pocket I found a
parking ticket stub that indicated the name of a parking lot; it was the
intersection of two streets. I happened to be on one of those streets
so I surmised that I could simply walk along this street until I came
upon the proper intersection and there would be my car. But which

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way to walk, away from the campus or towards it? I chose the way
that led away from the college campus. After several very chilly blocks
during which I had not run across my car, it was clear that I had
chosen the wrong way because I should have reached my car by then.
I turned around and went the other way. I never found my car!

Muslim Mayor– 2018-09-11

To my knowledge, this is the first dream in which I was not the main
protagonist. I was a twenty-something young Muslim man. I had gone
downtown to vote in the city-wide election for mayor and my father
was one of the candidates. I voted for him, of course, and returned
home.

Later that evening a friend dropped by the house and asked me if I

had heard the news; my father had been elected mayor of our city.

Russia Talk – 2018-09-12

My wife and daughter had recently returned from a European trip
that included stops in Russia. They had taken many photographs
which I had arranged into a travel book and had printed. Her friends
at church had heard about their experiences and thought that it might
be quite instructive for the children in the neighborhood middle
school so we were invited to make a presentation at an assembly
there.

We arrived at the school at the appointed hour and waited in the
cafeteria food preparation area that overlooked the assembly hall.
When the principal told us that it was time I peeked out at the
assembled crowd and found only about a dozen teachers there and no
students. Slightly deflated, I stepped out into the assembly hall along
with my wife and daughter and began to speak. However, I could
only muster a bare whisper. (I sleep connected to a CPAP machine
which pumps air into your nose and mouth and makes intelligible
speech almost impossible.)

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Try as I might, I could not speak louder than a whisper. Suddenly, I
got an idea. I turned to the principal and asked him for a microphone.
I reasoned that we could amplify my whispers and all could hear. In
the meantime, noting that my audience was a group of adults, rather
than children, I discarded my prepared comments and ad-libbed a
new, more adult, presentation.

Saturday Teaching – 2018-09-15

I was already retired but wanted to earn a little extra money so I
thought I would saunter over to the local community college and see
if they would hire me to teach a Saturday class. A one-time a week
class would suit me for I had all week to prepare for the one class and
I need only invest half a day at the college.

I went to the Business Department since that was my degree and I
had taught some accounting classes in my day. However, the person
in charge at the college when I got there told me that they had no
openings for Business teachers. He did, however, mention that over
in the Sciences Building they might have a need.

I walked into the Sciences Building and peered into various
classrooms. They were all headed up by an instructor. However, at
the end of the hall, I discovered a classroom full of students but there
was no instructor present. I boldly walked in and assumed control of
the classroom. I asked everyone to sit down and take out their
notebooks. Meanwhile, I picked up the roster of students that I
discovered on the desk, placed it on a clipboard also found there and
passed it over to a front-row student. I asked them to locate their
name and initial that line to indicate that they were present, then pass
it on the next student.

I picked up the textbook I found on the instructor’s desk, held it up
to the class and informed them that they should purchase a copy of
the book as soon as possible. I opened the book and noticed that it
was a Biology textbook. That shook up my confidence a bit since I
had never had a Biology course. However, I was willing to give it a go

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if I could just get a chapter or two ahead of the students. I decided to
use this their first class period to set the ground rules then release
them to go purchase their textbook and begin reading the first
chapter. I was confident that given a week to prepare I could be ready
to teach the class by the next Saturday.
Just then, a very stern-looking man walked into the classroom, turned
off the lights and switched on a video projection device that in a
couple of minutes explained the purpose of the course and the
standards that were expected. After the video was completed he
turned on the lights again and saw me for the first time at the head of
the class. “Who the devil are you?”, he barked. I quietly laid the
textbook down on the desk and meekly slunk out of the classroom
without saying a word. Man, was I ever embarrassed!

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Alphabetical Index

Advanced Systems - 2016-10-23 Chicago Planning – 2017-10-29
After Hours – 2017-08-08 Church Work – 2018-04-19
Air War - 2017-06-21 College Play – 2018-04-08
Antenna Array – 2018-08-02 Confused - 2018-04-29
Curved Tub - 2017-01-13
Appetizers Anyone– 2018-02-20 Daddy Park – 2017-09-29
Army Training With Wife – 2018-08-12 Daddy Photos – 2018-04-22
Daddy’s Sick – 2018-05-18
Back In the Saddle – 2018-07-22
Badminton - 2016-10-13 Daddy’s Tricycle – 2018-06-19
Dairy Queen - 2016-10-21
Balancing Act – 2018-01-10 Dance Class – 2017-06-09
Bamboo Rafters – 2018-01-15
Basketball Flunky - 2016-10-10 Detective Investigates- 2017-06-17
Battlefield Casualty – 2017-10-26 Deteriorating – 2018-07-13
Bay Volleyball - 2018-04-28
Bike Road Trip – 2018-04-20 Disposing of Gifts -2018-02-22
Boss and Accounting - 2016-10-26 DJ - 2016-10-29

Boy Blue - 2016-10-11 Dracula – 2018-06-24
Bread – 2017-06-14 Elementary School – 2018-08-23

Burned House – 2018-04-11 Embarrassed - 2016-09-19
Call of Nature – 2018-09-04 Experiment – 2018-06-07
Extended Family – 2017-10-23
Candidate - 2017-03-25 Fabrication Shop - 2016-09-24
Capital on Bike - 2017-06-12
Cardboard Structure – 2018-09-06 Failure- 2017-09-16
Fair Is Fair – 2018-05-28
Car Search – 2018-09-10 Felled Tree – 2018-06-25
Car Thefts – 2018-07-16 Film Class - 2016-09-25
Cater to Sheep! - 2016-10-15

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Fishing - 2016-10-24 New Minister – 2017-06-13
Ford Roadster – 2018-02-15 New VW Bus – 2018-04-02
Forgot My Classes - 2016-10-31 North Woods – 2017-09-01
Fraternity Treasurer – 2017-10-25 Not Hamilton Again! - 2016-10-18
French Horn Quintet – 2018-05-29 Nude Swimming – 2016-12-19
Furniture Robbery - 2018-04-26 Officers’ Retreat – 2018-07-29
Give Me a Coat – 2018-07-18 Oklahoma State - 2017-06-10
Gold Flakes – 2017-07-25 Open House – 2017-12-13
Gold Squabble – 2018-08-04 Open, Eyes! – 2018-05-08
Graduation Ball – 2018-03-06 Out of Gas – 2018-02-08
Guest Conductor – 2018-03-09
History of Hamilton - 2017-01-07 Paralysis – 2018-05-20
Passing Game - 2017-03-24
Hoedown - 2016-10-27 Physics Test – 2017-10-21
Horse Story – 2018-05-22
Humanities – 2018-08-03 Pinups – 2018-08-30
I Won’t Go – 2017-12-27 Police Academy – 2018-07-31
Possible Graft – 2018-05-05
Ike – 2018-06-26
Inundated - 2016-09-22 Pregnant – 2018-09-04
Is This the Right House? – 2018-05-02 Quality College - 2016-09-17
It Feels Like Home – 2018-07-09
Rags – 2018-05-25
Kids – 2018-05-10 Rats and Scorpions – 2018-04-25
Landscaping – 2017-09-17
Reconfiguration – 2018-09-03
LBJ – 2018-07-28 Regain Magical Powers – 2017-09-04
Model T – 2018-01-14 Rewarding Good Work – 2018-07-23
Mountain of Snakes - 2018-09-06
Muslin Mayor – 2018-09-11 Running Commute – 2018-07-19
Mysterious Woman – 2018-04-23 Russia Talk – 2018-09-12
Mystery on My Last Day – 2018-06-09
New Accounting Building – 2017-09-15 Saturday Teaching – 2018-09-15
Scholarship – 2018-04-22
Seeding – 2018-08-01
Semester End - 2018-08-24

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Shipwrecked – 2018-07-20 Thumb Print – 2018-08-19
Simple Soccer – 2018-07-26 Too Much Gas – 2017-10-26
Top Hat and Tails - 2016-12-18
Snake Oil – 2018-06-17 Tornado Run – 2018-08-29
So Sleepy - 2016-10-06 Uncle, the Professor – 2018-01-20
Special Holiday – 2018-09-04 Unique Uniform – 2018-07-06
Stairway - 2016-10-07 Visiting My Uncle – 2018-02-22
Stolen Trolley - 2016-12-19 Where’s My Room? – 2018-04-12
Stripped Clean - 2017-04-15 Wrong Uniform – 2018-05-06
Teaching Levitation – 2017-12-25
Test Failure – 2018-08-26

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All dreams included in this book
should be considered pure fiction
since they came from the imagination of the author

- albeit, while asleep.
All characters and locations depicted in this book

have been altered in order
that they, in no way,

reflect on any actual person,
living or dead,

or any actual geographical place.

AWL

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